Be careful of the violence in the content.
Just after the broadcast fell silent.
Buzzing…
Strange noises could be faintly heard in the distance.
The people who were whispering just now quieted down, and unease spread like a tide.
“Is it really okay for us to sit like this?”
More than one person had this thought in their mind. After all, the idea that the seats on the subway equated to the positions in the rules was just their speculation.
Shen Jie was still carefully rubbing his hands.
A 60ml bottle of alcohol gel, he only used half of it before stopping.
It felt comfortable.
It felt like they could endure another ten minutes in the carriage.
He put the alcohol gel back in his pocket, and his tightly furrowed brow relaxed.
However, the glasses man was restless.
“… Rule number three says that inspectors will patrol and inspect each carriage. But as long as we work obediently, we won’t be punished,” the glasses man looked at his phone, muttering rapidly to himself, “Maybe pretending is also an option…?”
The woman sitting next to him, accompanied by a girl, looked at him with an inquiring gaze. “Sir, what should we do next?”
The glasses man looked serious and said, “Currently, there are no prompts regarding the work content. But the rules mention in several places that we must work diligently, or else face punishment. So, the key now is to figure out what constitutes as work.”
Without knowing the job content, they couldn’t pretend to work, and even if they were sitting correctly at their stations, they wouldn’t be able to pass the inspectors’ supervision!
[Host, what do you think work is?]
Shen Jie thought for a moment before replying, “The process of slacking off.”
[I didn’t mean that… Do you have any idea about the content of work in the factory rules?]
Shen Jie: “Ideas? None. The content of work constantly changes, but the skill of slacking off remains constant.”
[…]
Surprisingly, that seemed to make sense… The system was almost convinced by his words.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Aera atfc, j ulgi rlaalcu lc atf ogbca revvfcis rmgfjwfv.
“Ynfg atfgf—ktja lr atja!?”
Ktfs rjk j ijguf raffi wjmtlcf mbnfgfv klat pjuufv uglcvlcu ktffir wbnlcu lcab nlfk ogbw atf fcv bo qfbqif’r rluta.
Ktf wjmtlcf kjr fralwjafv ab yf atf tfluta bo atgff qfbqif jcv bnfg akb wfafgr klvf, reggbecvfv ys vbhfcr bo mbcalceberis fzafcvlcu jcv gfagjmalcu wfmtjclmji jgwr klat uglcvlcu ktffir atja wjvf atf ragjcuf cblrf qfbqif tjv ojlcais tfjgv yfobgf.
As if attracted by the girl’s scream, the trajectory of the machine changed, moving towards the direction of the crowd.
“Sir, is this… also an illusion?” The woman trembled.
“No,” the glasses man said, his face pale. “It might be… the inspector.”
The rules didn’t specify that the inspector had to be human.
The machine drew closer, its buzzing sound becoming increasingly deafening—like the noise of ten electric saws cutting through steel pipes simultaneously.
Countless grinding wheels swayed menacingly back and forth. Though clearly lifeless objects, they were more terrifying than the fiercest beasts. It arrived at the original position of the cutting machine, which had been dismembered into a pile of scrap metal. Along with the bodies piled up, they were sucked into the rotating suction cup at the bottom of the machine and disappeared without a trace.
System: [The space of the carriage is known to be 10×2.7×2, and the estimated volume of the inspector is 3×2×2, leaving a certain safety margin in width. The area where the host is located is within the safety zone defined by the rules.]
[Congratulations, host, for answering the first question correctly. The original seats in the subway are indeed the designated workstations in the rules. Now, for the second question—what posture constitutes working seriously?]
[Friendly reminder: Tap the system to flip pages and view the reference answers.]
Although the width of the inspector seemed to just occupy the aisle, leaving some safety space for people on the seats on both sides, the wildly extending and retracting mechanical grinding wheels completely exceeded the safety range, looking like they could fall on someone’s face or body at any moment.
But now, no one dared to experiment with their own body to see if the “inspector” was also an illusion like another Luo Yunsen.
Cold sweat instantly permeated the backs of everyone.
The inspector slowly approached the girl sitting at the very front, the sound of grinding wheels was deafening. Three meters, two meters…
The girl’s face turned as white as paper, panic-stricken as she looked towards the glasses man who was now their team’s strategist.
Gritting his teeth, the man said, “Bend over, lower your head! Just grab something and pretend to inspect it! Your arms must also pretend to be placed on the table! The approximate height from the ground is…”
The glasses man stared hard towards the distant machinery, but for a near-sighted person, this was still too much of a strain.
Yes, although it was just speculation— he felt that the content of their work should be related to the machinery outside. Although they couldn’t go to sit next to those machines, their presence wasn’t meaningless. Their job content was probably related to mechanical parts manufacturing? Maybe it was some other assembly line screwing job. From this, one could infer the posture during work. They must definitely bend over, lower their heads, and hold something for work. The first two were easy to achieve, but how could they pretend to hold something in the empty air?
Looking at the inspector with all those mechanical arms, even a slightly incorrect posture might be cut by the serrated grinding wheels…
According to normal logic, the height of the hands should be the same as the height of the workbench of those machines— but who could judge the specific height at a glance!
Surely, the host setting the rules wouldn’t let them pass easily… or perhaps, this was originally a death trap prepared for them.
“0.679m.”
At this moment, a voice as melodious as a celestial tune sounded.
The glasses man turned abruptly, only to see that the source of the sound was one of the two individuals in the corner.
There sat a sunny and handsome figure with a hedgehog-like head. Alongside him was a young scholar dressed in the white attire of the research institute, with semi-long hair tied behind his head. The graceful curve of his profile resembled the holographic projections of virtual celebrities meticulously crafted on the internet.
It was they who had occupied the seats first… Could they be the hidden big shots?
The glasses man had no time to think further. 0.679m… The judgment of the inspector might not be precise to the millimeter, but there would certainly not be much room for maneuver. He quickly resorted to the arm measurement method—his own arm length was 65cm, adding an extra 2cm of height…
“It’s this height! Quickly, raise your hand!” The glasses man demonstrated by lifting his arm.
The girl, her eyes holding back tears, pale as paper, looked on. The distance between them was about four or five meters. She attempted to raise her arm, but… the height was slightly off.
Seeing this, the woman next to the glasses man immediately raised her arm to match the height of his right arm, while extending her left arm and stepping forward to reach the passenger opposite.
“It’s this height! This height! Hurry—let the young lady know!”
The passenger who was touched by her arm hesitated for a moment, then understood her meaning and extended his arm. “Quick!”
Like a relay race, people spread the correct arm height around them. Finally, as the machine was about to reach the girl, her arm was also touched by the passenger on her right.
The girl’s trembling ceased as she grabbed her phone, tremblingly leaned over, lowered her head, and pretended to work—
Countless retractable saw teeth swept across her head, neck, and waist, as if an evil consciousness, like a mechanical tentacle made by a horror creature, was sniffing and probing towards humans. The girl trembled violently, biting her lip fiercely, not daring to move a muscle.
The three-meter-long mechanical monster passed by slowly. Her phone was severed, half of it fell to the ground and was suctioned away by the monster’s suction cup, but the person—remained unharmed.
The inspector moved slowly. Everyone at their workstation had to undergo scrutiny.
[“0.679m, how did the host calculate that?”] They were in the farthest corner, and the inspector hadn’t arrived yet. The system asked somewhat astonishedly.
The precision of objects observable by the human eye to the centimeter was already remarkable, let alone such a distance, precise to the millimeter—given the human body’s capabilities, it was basically impossible, right?
It had some doubts…
Shen Jie: “Of course, I saw it.”
Then the system saw a data screen unfold in Shen Jie’s field of vision, with strings of green fluorescent data occupying the entire world view, very cyberpunk and futuristic.
[“…Huh huh huh? Host, what’s with the images in your eyes?”]
Shen Jie: “AR calculation template.”
The system was shocked, [Did you install an AR imaging device in your eyes?]
Shen Jie didn’t deny it, just said lightly, “Hmm. I’m a bit color blind, so it helps with correction.”
Although augmented reality technology had been around for nearly a century, the portability of the devices remained a major challenge for its development.
Until the outbreak of the apocalypse in 2044, this technology stagnated completely. It had been rarely mentioned since then.
After all, the purpose of AR was to beautify reality with electronically synthesized virtual images, but when reality was about to collapse, whether it was beautiful or not became completely irrelevant.
The reason the system understood was because… well, it had been curious and had some knowledge about it.
But now, one of the biggest challenges of actual AR development —portability—was perfectly solved by Shen Jie. It didn’t even notice that Shen Jie had installed AR in his eyes before activating the AR calculation template—perhaps it wasn’t directly installed in the eyes but rather a device similar to contact lenses?
Furthermore, the images displayed by AR assistance completely show no signs of Shen Jie’s color blindness! So the second biggest challenge of AR development —realism and stability—has also been perfectly resolved!
In conclusion! In conclusion! If placed before doomsday, Shen Jie’s invention would have been enough to make him successful, collecting endless patent fees. Unfortunately, now it is the end of the world… but even in the end of the world…
The system was very excited.
[It’s simply a genius invention!]
[It’s such a waste of talent to only have you design suppressors!]
[You should go to the highest laboratory in District 1 and research combat exoskeletons. You’ll definitely get promoted, get a raise, and achieve great success.]
Shen Jie thought lightly, the original owner of this body was indeed a genius. Without being a genius, one couldn’t enter the research institute.
Unfortunately, the genius was born in the wrong era.
The inspector was getting closer.
Shen Jie watched as the rapidly spinning saw blade approached, the deafening roar of the engine echoing in his ears, his pupils slightly contracting.
He felt the blood in his body rushing rapidly. He was entangled by a secretive, long-standing pursuit and calling as if it were a shadow following him everywhere.
In fact, he didn’t detest this calling. However, he thought of Zong Lin.
If Zong Lin were here, his condition should be better.
At least he wouldn’t want to touch the saw blade with his neck.
The system stopped its rainbow fart and panicked: [Host!!! Quickly duck down!!!!]
waaah, an update!! thank you, translator ♡
uwahhhh!!!! non-humans are really different!! Look at that precise calculation! (my dumb brain cell has devoured itself)! Xiao Shen ah Xiao Shen, ah Zong is so lucky~~
Meet the blade with what?! Omg alarms sounding!!
Wonder how the original host died..